Music 2nd Quarter

Aaron A. Bautista 12/11/2021

10 – Mars
Band: Queen
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was
Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor
(drums, vocals) and John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by
progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into
more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as
arena rock and pop rock.

Before forming Queen, May and Taylor had played together in the band Smile.
Mercury was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with more
elaborate stage and recording techniques. He joined in 1970 and suggested the name
"Queen". Deacon was recruited in February 1971, before the band released their
eponymous debut album in 1973. Queen first charted in the UK with their second
album, Queen II, in 1974. Sheer Heart Attack later that year and A Night at the
Opera in 1975 brought them international success. The latter featured "Bohemian
Rhapsody", which stayed at number one in the UK for nine weeks and helped
popularize the music video format.

The band's 1977 album News of the World contained "We Will Rock You" and
"We Are the Champions", which have become anthems at sporting events. By the
early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world.
"Another One Bites the Dust" from The Game (1980) became their best-selling
single, while their 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in
the UK and is certified nine times platinum in the US. Their performance at the
1985 Live Aid concert is ranked among the greatest in rock history by various
publications. In August 1986, Mercury gave his last performance with Queen at
Knebworth, England. In 1991, he died of bronchopneumonia—a complication of
AIDS. Deacon retired in 1997. Since 2004, May and Taylor have toured under the
"Queen +" name with vocalists Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert.

Queen have been a global presence in popular culture for more than four decades.
Estimates of their record sales range from 170 million to 300 million, making them
one of the world's best-selling music artists. In 1990, Queen received the Brit Award
 Music 2nd Quarter
for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. They were inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and with each member having composed hit singles
all four were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2005 they
received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British
Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors, and in 2018 they were presented
the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Genres: Rock
Members:
Freddie Mercury
Born: September 5, 1946, Stone Town, Tanzania
Died: November 24, 1991, Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Brian May
Born: July 19, 1947 (age 74 years), Hampton, United Kingdom
Roger Taylor
Born: July 26, 1949 (age 72 years), King's Lynn, United Kingdom
John Deacon
Born: August 19, 1951 (age 70 years), Leicester, United Kingdom
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Solo Artist: Sir Elton Hercules John
Sir Elton Hercules John CH CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25
March 1947) is an English singer, pianist and composer. Collaborating
with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967 on more than 30 albums, John has
sold over 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music
artists of all time. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits in the UK Singles
Chart and US Billboard Hot 100, including nine number ones in the UK
and nine in the US, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums in
the US. His tribute single "Candle in the Wind 1997", rewritten in
dedication to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold over 33 million copies
worldwide and is the best-selling chart single of all time. According to
Billboard in 2019, John is the top solo artist in US chart history (third
overall), and the top Adult Contemporary artist of all time.

Raised in the Pinner area of Greater London, John learned to play piano
at an early age, and by 1962 had formed Blues ology, an R&B band with
whom he played until 1967. He met his longtime musical partner Taupin
in 1967, after they both answered an advert for songwriters. For two
years, they wrote songs for other artists, and John worked as a session
musician for artists including the Hollies and the Scaffold. In 1969,
John's debut album, Empty Sky, was released. In 1970, his first hit
single, "Your Song", from his second album, Elton John, became his
first top ten in both the UK and the US. His most commercially
successful period, 1970–1976, included Honky Château (1972), Don't
Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
(1973) and his first Greatest Hits compilation — the latter two among
the official best-selling albums worldwide. John has also had success in
musical films and theatre, composing for The Lion King and its stage
adaptation, Aida and Billy Elliot the Musical. In 2018, John began his
ongoing farewell tour. His music career was dramatized in the 2019
biopic Rocket man. While not appearing in his own biopic, John has
made cameos in other films and television shows.
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John has been involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. In
1992, he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and a year later
he began hosting his annual Foundation Academy Awards Party, which
has since become one of the biggest high-profile Oscar parties in the
Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised
over £300 million. John owned Watford F.C. from 1976 to 1987 and from
1997 to 2002, and is an honorary life president of the club. John has
performed at a number of royal events, such as the funeral of Princess
Diana at Westminster Abbey in 1997, the Party at the Palace in 2002 and
the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in 2012. John,
who announced he was bisexual in 1976 and has been openly gay since 1988, entered
into a civil partnership with David Furnish in 2005; they married after same-sex
marriage became legal in England and Wales in 2014.

John has received five Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards; including for
Outstanding Contribution to Music; two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, a
Tony Award, a Disney Legends Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor. In 2004,
Rolling Stone ranked him 49th on its list of 100 influential musicians of the rock and
roll era. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and is a fellow of the British Academy of
Songwriters, Composers and Authors. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for
"services to music and charitable services" in 1998. Presenting John with France's
highest civilian award, the Legion d'honneur, in 2019, French President Emmanuel
Macron called him a "melodic genius" and praised his work on behalf of the LGBT
community.